It is very likely the Merry Christmas Issaquah emergency aid fund will set a new record for the number of donors this year. But the fund is still more than $16,000 away from its goal of $50,000. Read more

Scores for students who participated in the districtwide Pre Scholastic Assessment Tests this fall will be available Jan. 4.

Parents interested in learning what the scores mean for students and additional opportunities available for them having taken the tests can attend a meeting with district officials at 6 p.m. Jan. 6 in the administration building, 565 N.W. Holly St.

Parents can review their child’s answers and find out how to improve their skills in areas like math, reading and writing, and learn about the National Merit Scholarship Program.

District officials can also help parents and students create an educational plan to help students reach their goals.

The attempt by the city of Sammamish to annex Klahanie Park is very much a land-grabbing effort on their part at the expense of the residents of the community that immediately surrounds the park. Some items of concern are:

– Klahanie Park is a neighborhood park, conceived and built as an “open space” and bordered by homes and living space. A sports complex park as the one Sammamish intends to develop should never be placed in such a location because it is extremely disruptive to the local community —noise, light pollution, traffic, etc.

– “Upgrading” the current park to one with artificial turf, night lighting, locked fences, bleachers, controlled access, fees, a through road, etc., is no upgrade at all. It is a disservice to the local community.

– The 64-acre park (mostly pristine wetland containing the 10,000-year-old Queens Bog) is not located within Sammamish. It is unprecedented within King County for a park area to be plucked out and annexed in this way.

-Klahanie Park was built by Klahanie’s developer (including grass field, restrooms, parking and trails) and given to King County in good faith.

– Sammamish planned to build a similar “sports” facility at Beaver Lake Park, but residents rejected it. They are now attempting to “export” the problem to Klahanie.

– Sammamish’s suggestion that a Parks Commission position be made available to a nonresident has a hollow sound. This would provide no assurance that we would be heard or fairly represented.

– It would be appropriate for the park to be annexed together with the community that surrounds it, to the city we ultimately become a part of (hopefully Issaquah), where we would have meaningful representation.

– There are clearly other means to finance Klahanie Park operations until such time. King County is shuttering no parks in 2010 and Sammamish is not coming to the rescue!

We are pleased to continue sharing this open space with all who come to the park, but the 10,000 King County residents of Klahanie will be ill-served by Sammamish’s plans to build and control a one-dimensional sports complex within our community.

Jack Frost seems to be getting closer and with snow predictions in some of the area’s higher elevations, Issaquah School District officials have sent out information to families regarding school closure plans. Read more

Fewer people died as a result of traffic crashes last year than in the previous decade and suicides dropped to the lowest number since 2002. But the figures — from the 2008 King County Medical Examiner’s report released last month — showed a rising number of homicides. Read more